Mugla tourist information

In ancient times in Anatolia, the region between the Menderes (Meander) and Dalaman (Indus) rivers in the south was called Caria. The inhabitants were Carians and Leleges. In his Iliad, Homer describes the Carians as natives of Anatolia, defending their country against Greeks in joint campaigns in collaboration with the Trojans. The original name of Mugla is open for discussion. Various sources refer to the city as Mogola, Mobella or Mobolia.

In Hellenistic and Imperial times it was a rather insignificant settlement in the part of the Rhodian Peraea which was subject to Rhodes but not incorporated in the Rhodian state, and was called under the Carian name of Mobolla. There are almost no ruins to enlighten the history of the settlement of Mugla. On the high hill to the north of the city, the presence of some insignificant ancient remains indicate that an acropolis was located here. Two inscriptions unearthed within the city are from the 2nd century B.C., attesting to the Rhodian domination.

In 1261 CE, the Mentese Bey, founder of the Beylik (principality) that carried his name and that had its capital in Milas, established his control over Mugla region. The beys of Menteshe held the city until 1390. The Turkish settlement in the region as a whole during the Mentese period is known to have taken place through migrations following the Kütahya-Tavas axis. In 1390, Mugla was taken over by the Ottoman Empire. However, just twelve years later, Tamerlane and his forces defeated the Ottomans in the Battle of Ankara, and returned control of the region to its former rulers, the Mentese Beys, as they did for other Anatolian Turkish Beyliks. Mugla was brought back under Ottoman control, this time by Sultan Mehmed II the Conqueror, in 1451.

The city acquired a regional importance after it replaced Milas as the seat of the subprovince (sanjak) under the Ottomans. The subprovince carried the name Mentese till the Republican Era when it was renamed after its seat (Mugla).

Between the start of the 20th century and before the 1923 Exchange of Greek and Turkish Populations, the city of Mugla and its immediate dependencies had a population of around 42000, in which 1500 to 4000 according to different sources, were Greeks. The most famous international personality of recent date from Mugla is the arms trading tycoon Basil Zaharoff, whose family were actually Greeks of Istanbul, but he was born in Mugla in 1849. The French actress Anna Mouglalis, as attested by her name, can trace her roots to the city.

A sleepy town of 20000 till recently, disregarded by visitors in a hurry to reach its coastal resorts, Mugla has refound its fortunes thanks to the rapid growth of Mugla University. In this, the university and the city owes much to the former (died 2002) mining and poultry magnate Mr. Yavuz Sitki Koçman, who contributed an important part of his fortune in the university building effort in the 1990s. Today, the university (and the city) boasts a 16000-strong student community, which opened the city to the outside (including international) world. A serious mobilization for the restoration of the city's architectural heritage also enhanced local tourism.